• by editor , David Baker , January 7, 2008

Happy New Year to all! Hope we've all completed our 2008 communication calendar for our businesses or clients.  Since we have four Email Insiders each week, you certainly get your fill of thoughts, opinions and updates on the industry and trends.  And since this is my first column of the year, I thought I'd lay out the fundamentals of what I think will make email programs click in 2008.  I'd normally lead with "based on the best I've seen," but in the email space there is no "best" or "worst," just instances of greatness and instances of, well...  not well-thought-out implementations.  One program is not perfect, but all programs that have evolved have a few common characteristics, their perspective on the following subjects.

The Mailing List:   Just like a living soul, the house list has a pulse.  It's alive -- and if you treat it like a living, evolving, transitioning thing, it will continue to thrive.  The programs that do this well, realize that you can't realistically retain everyone on your list. You will cast off a percentage each year in order to keep it healthy, just like a living organism. As many have written in 2007, there are many reasons to keep a list large, and just as many to keep it small and tightly controlled.  You need to think about what your list means to you, how much you'll let it grow, the consequences of growing it too fast, consequences of permission paths and policies and what it really means to your business bottom line. If growing your list is one of your top KPIs in 2008 and you haven't thought this out well, you are in for a tough time managing diminishing returns and diminishing delivery performance.

Customer Segmentation:  You can't take action for every customer segment.  As hard as you try to target customers, try to personalize product, promotion, message, tone, timing or creative, you will never be able to provide true mass customization.  Keep segmentation focused on tiers of response.  Some will buy online, some will buy offline, some will view your email and some will click.  The best programs simplify their approach to segmentation and try it in bite-sized chunks, all based on response as a directive.

Testing:    As I've said before, HTML email is over 15 years old and there isn't much we haven't tested in its short lifetime.  With so few resources, few budget dollars, and real-time demands no other digital channel has to handle, a business can't afford wasting cycles testing, unless it can prove it is moving the needle.  The best programs out there are again simplifying testing, but most importantly, they document what worked.  Think of it as your testing recipe book.  We intuitively remember things, but if you don't keep a library of testing records, it will get lost with the results.  Remember one thing: You test to prove or disprove your hypothesis, not just for the exercise.

Cadence:   We are creatures of habit.  Email is a relatively new habit and glued to the fabric of our daily regimens.  While your customers may not open or read every email, and email isn't always valued for its timeliness, people get used to things quickly.  The best programs out have remained consistent with the cadence of their programs.  I know I will get my monthly statement from American Airlines at a certain time.  I will get my traditional weekly mailing from Omaha Steaks (if not several), along with 40 other email promotions and newsletters.  Don't discount the importance of timing and frequency; it's as much a commodity as is the content and brand.

Mobile awareness:  While some think email is dying because of the mobile email consumer and the inability of the technologies to deliver a great experience outside of a text email, the best programs I've seen are thinking of the consumer first.  Just because we can't detect that  consumers are reading email on their mobile device, doesn't mean we shouldn't cater to the mobile consumer.  You'll see more of this in 2008, where programs offer opt-in through mobile email, and there will be mobile disclaimers at the top of the email that link to a mobile version of the email and there will be mobile-only versions available.  

The best programs have all these characteristics and viewpoints.  While none are perfect and all have virtually the same issues on different scales, the perspective and commitment to managing persistence is what makes an email program successful.

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